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April 20, 2006

Kansas teens planning Columbine-style attack: police

by Sam Savage

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Five Kansas high school students were
arrested after police learned they were allegedly planning an
attack on Thursday's seventh anniversary of the Columbine,
Colorado, school massacre, authorities said.

The Cherokee County Sheriff said officers found guns and
knives in the home of one of the suspects in Riverton, a small
town in the southeastern corner of Kansas.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline was taking over the
prosecution, his office said. No charges were filed as of
Thursday afternoon.

Authorities said the suspects, who ranged in age from 16 to
18, planned to wear black trench coats and target popular
students and staff at their high school, just as Eric Harris
and Dylan Klebold did in their deadly 1999 assault in Columbine
that left 15 dead.

Kansas school officials learned of the plot after being
alerted to a message left on the Web site MySpace.com.

One of the suspects corresponded on-line with a woman who
was given a list of a dozen people who were targeted and she
contacted police on Wednesday.

Police said the students' motives may have stemmed from
them being bullied at school.